Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Newbie

Tomorrow morning at 9:34 our newest member of the Chernivestka Oblast arrives for site visit at the Chernivsti Train Station. His village is a 25 minute Marshutka ride away from Chernivsti, and is rumored to have NOTHING (not a single flushing toilet in the whole town) 
so I'm thinking that he'll be in Chernivsti pretty often. I can't wait! I'm so excited to have new blood 
and someone else to hang out with! Hopefully he's cool and hopefully he likes his site and doesn't 
want to switch before they come permanently in December. We'll just have to convince him that 
we're awesome enough to put up with an outhouse for 2 years. :)

Besides meeting newbie at the train station, I will also be teaching my second lesson at a local Chernivsti school on how to prevent human trafficking. Now, in theory, I know what to do. I have a whole lesson planned on what I want to get across to these kids that are very at risk to be trafficked. And I'm really excited that I have this opportunity to get to spread the message to so many kids! In reality...it's a little different.

You think kids in the states are poorly behaved? Wow. I could not imagine kids in the states even attempting to act like the boys did during my first lesson. ESPECIALLY to a guest speaker! I did everything I could think of to get through to them. I waited. I threatened. I called them out and tried to make them repeat what other students had said. I stood next to their desks. I shouted over them. Nothing. It's so frustrating! After the lesson, a darling girlchild came up to me and told me a story 
about a woman she knew that was trafficked. She wanted to tell me during the lesson, but obviously 
couldn't make herself heard over her classmates. It's such a shame. Almost all of the girls were sitting there 
trying to listen, however, so I might make another visit to that school and talk to the all girls health class. Women are more at risked to be sexually trafficked, but I wish I could think of some way to get through to the boys too, since they're not immune to get trafficked, and even if they were, they all have sisters, mothers, and friends. The more we spread the word about ways to prevent it the better.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

I'm still alive!

Whew. Sorry that took a while. My normal choice of browsers at the library, Opera wasn't letting me sign in. It took me until today to think of, doh! why not try Internet Explorer? How archaic, but...that's Ukraine. ;)

There's always so much to tell, I'm just going to have to start picking stories I guess. My most recent is the gas leak in my apartment, which happened yesterday. I was just putting my soup onto my gas stove for it to cook all day (why does it take so long for beans to cook here? Yes, I soak them overnight. Sometimes even 2 or 3 nights. But I still have to boil them for 2 days...) when my trusty Peace Corps issued smoke detector/carbon monoxide detector started screeching and telling me (it talks) "carbon monoxide, carbon monoxide" over and over again. After turning off the gas stove and my colonka...

definition of a colonka excerpted from an email update:
"....in my apartment is a Colonka. I don't think this contraption has an English translation, but it's fabulous. I was terrified of these contraptions when I first got to Ukraine because everytime I see a Ukrainian talking about one they always make the hand motions that resemble Chernobyl blowing up. That's because a Colonka is a fabulous gas ball of death that you have to treat very carefully and get to know very well, but when you do, provides all the hot water you can ask for because the fiery death ball inside of it heats the pipes where your water flows through until you turn off the gas (carefully). I love it. Especially because (so far) my Colonka is very mild mannered and well behaving."

...and trying unsuccessfully to pry the batteries out of the beeping/talking alarm, I call who else? My PCV friend Katie Backus. I knew Katie could tell me what to do. Not only is Katie a smart, resourceful PCV, but she has also had many a crazy thing happen to her in Ukraine, including I knew, a gas leak. She says, "Open windows." Check. "Go outside." Check. (My brain was getting pretty fuzzy at this point, glad she was telling me the obvious.) "Call 04."

Well. "04" is the number in Ukraine to call if you have a gas leak (I'm beginning to think this is more common than we once thought...). But I'm outside. You have to call 04 from a landline. Hence, the problem with 04. So, we decide together. I'll wait for 5 minutes, go back in and see if I smell gas. I don't. And my carbon monoxide detector isn't going off anymore. But as soon as I go back I feel lightheaded again, and obviously if my trusty detector is detecting, someone should come and check this all out right? Should I call 04 and tell them I smell gas, which I don't, just because that is the only safety language concerning gas that the peace corps taught us, and that will get them here, or...not.

Katie convinces me to call Sergey, our Safety and Security Officer, or in other words, our own Personal Badass Possibly Mofia-related Bodyguard, fondly known by PCVs as "Papa Sergey". "Hi Sarah. I am coming back from Moldova right now. Can I call you later if it's not an emergency?" "It is an emergency Sergey. I have a gas leak." "Okay. I will call you in 20 minutes." "Sergey! IT IS an emergency. EMERGENCY. SERGEY." "Aw. Emergency? I will call you now." I love Sergey. He has his assistant Andrey, who I'm beginning to learn is pretty badass himself, call me back and take care of me. Andrey calls 04 and tells me 40 minutes. He talks to PCMO (Peace Corps Medical) and they say it's fine for me to wait inside with all the windows open. He tells me to call me when the gas guy gets there and hand him the phone so Andrey can explain the situation to him. Hmm.. 2 and a half hours later Andrey calls me to "make sure I'm still alive". Yes..but no gas guy. And I'm really feeling lightheaded now. Just as Andrey calls to check where the hell they are, the gas guy rings my bell....and asks me to sign this paper saying that everything is fine with my gas. Which I understood, but...thankfully Andrey was a phone call away because he explained, no I will not sign this paper, no everything is not okay, no one's even been there yet!

So he comes in. Fixes the leak. I keep the windows open all day because NOW it smells like gas since he's been testing everything in my apartment. Andrey gives me the heads up that while I'm not expected to pay him, I will be expected to "tip" him. Thanks Andrey. What a lifesaver. ;) I cook my soup. For 14 hours. Finally I get to eat at 9. The beans are still crunchy, but I'm alive, which is nice. To all of you that I know haven't put up your PC issued detectors yet, let this story, plus Katie's story, plus that 50 year old Colonka on your wall serve as inspiration to, please, take it out of the box.

Turns out THIS is why I couldn't concentrate on studying Ukrainian all morning. No, really...it was...